Sep 20th 2014, 3:02:00
Stopping at turn 99 is overrated. I am known for being very good at startups and midgame and screwing up the finish. I am currently the top ranked country. The "fastest" type of startup, for score and for generally being "ready," is industrialist. If you indy start it is more important to get your goods to market than to save turns. Saving turns is for the other starts.
I don't have the patience for the 4/1 method described. I build 2 turns worth of indies, then 10 construction sites at a time until I get to 10 bpt. Then I build 50 indies, or if I am a theo 40 indies and 10 farms. I continue in this vein, building more buildings at the five bpt intervals, until I leave protection. My starts typically yield 75ish cs at turn 100, and I almost always have my target bpt by turn 300, and am usually in first place.
Bear in mind, being in first place is not the goal at this point, although I won't pretend its ever not cool to be in first. The problem is it makes you a natural target, and the temptation tk hang onto first can cause you to make poor decisions. The flipside, of course, is that if you are in first you fan hold more land, because it is impossible to be first and landfat. Just make sure you can hold it. :)
Also, selling spies while on protection is super old school. Turrets are better with changes that have been made.